Illustration

Birds, Nature, Landcscapes, Photography, and More!

brianleefritz

Anticipation 10x20 acrylic on canvas Frame by my d

Anticipation
10x20 acrylic on canvas
Frame by my dad, made from maple deadfall in the woods

There are so many action shots of kingfishers diving for fish, and those are cool and all, but the bird itself spends more time waiting around than anything. In a state of anticipation.

I've had this idea kicking around in my head for about a year now, inspired by a trip up north where we paddled around and played hide-and-seek with a loon and watched belted kingfisher stalk its prey.

So when my client came to me asking for a kingfisher painting, it felt like all the stars aligned. I explained the concept, sent a sketch and gave her some size options. She loved it and gave me the go-ahead to start.

The swamp and lilypad flower are from my own reference photos. The fish are sticklebacks and the bird is of course a belted kingfisher.

I'll be taking photos for prints later this week, so let me know if you want one.

The art and its inspiration. Sometimes it's nice

The art and its inspiration.

Sometimes it's nice to know where a painting came from. This one is pretty direct.

I walk by this overgrown chain-link fence on Crane street every few days and always stop to admire the flowers it chose to give me that morning.

And I painted it because it's pretty and I wanted to knock out a quick little painting to pick my momentum back up. It was also an excuse to play around with magenta and blue and really push those light and shadow color contrasts. That'll be something I'll need for an upcoming commission.

"Rose of Sharon on Crane Street"
8x10" acrylic on canvas
$150 with a frame

Rose of Sharon on Crane St. There's a little spot

Rose of Sharon on Crane St.

There's a little spot on my walking route downtown that I just love. It's a little fence that's been overgrown with rose of sharon and wild pea plants and all sorts of other stuff and I love the way it blooms.

It's not conventionally beautiful, but that's never been what I'm about.

For me, it's about finding beauty in the things around me. Focusing in, zooming out, finding the things that catch my eye and showing you what I see in them.

8x10 Acrylic on canvas panel
$150 with a frame

About a year ago, a hot air balloon landed in my b

About a year ago, a hot air balloon landed in my back yard.

And if you can believe it, the same one that landed in my parents yard when I was a kid.

I have some more ideas involving hot air balloons, but here's a sketch that I just HAD to get out.

Hot Air Balloon Over My Back Yard
8x10 acrylic on canvas board
$100 unframed

Happy Vulture Awareness Day. Which may have been y

Happy Vulture Awareness Day.
Which may have been yesterday.

But you're aware of vultures now, right? 😂

Prints in my website.

Happy National Hummingbird Day! Here's a Costas hu

Happy National Hummingbird Day!
Here's a Costas hummingbird.

ESCONDIDO, 16X20 Acrylic on canvas
$500

Paint a sunflower field with me! One more little

Paint a sunflower field with me!

One more little taste of summer on your tongue before the leaves all turn and autumn fills our lungs.

I start most of my paintings these days with a canvas toned in magenta. I just love the way it pops through in the final piece.

From there, I usually start with the part that either scares or excites me the most. In this case, I was excited about placing the flowers.

Then came some midtones to fill up the scene and I started mapping out the shadows.

After that, I was all about capturing the light and texture. Which was a challenge because they both kept changing with the light and the wind! So I ended up with a quick, bold approach, partly because a storm was rolling in.

And that's kind of what you deal with when you paint en plein air! Sometimes it's so bright out that you have to wear sunglasses just to see. Sometimes the wind knocks your easel over. Sometimes it rains on you!

I've experienced all three and yet I still love it.

Maybe I'm just crazy though. I am an artist, after all! 😂

It wouldn't have been August without a sunflower p

It wouldn't have been August without a sunflower painting!

This one is 12x16" acrylic on canvas, painted in about two and a half hours. Stick around til Friday to see the final product. (Or check my stories today)

I made something a little weird last week. It's

I made something a little weird last week.

It's kind of a mural. But a little looser. And I knocked it out in a day.

It's perfect if you want something more interesting than a one-color accent wall but you don't want a full mural.

You can hang art on top of it.

I have a ton of ideas from gradient fades to sunsets and birds on a wire. If you want something new and interesting, message me!

So that's my weird little idea. Thank you to Community Catalyst of Howell for giving me the opportunity. I had a couple other more "normal" ideas, but y'all went a little weird with me and I appreciate it!

Just a little something I made for a friend. He

Just a little something I made for a friend.

He runs a home improvement business and has done a lot of work around the house for the couple he gave this to.

Including making a nice new platform for this handmade family heirloom birdhouse.

So to say thank you for their time, energy, trust and support, he wanted me to make up a little painting for them.

If you're thinking of a nice thank you gift, I would highly recommend original artwork. This one made the clients cry and I can't think of a better endorsement than that!

11x14" acrylic on canvas panel

I made something very different yesterday. What

I made something very different yesterday.

What if there was something between a full mural and a colored accent wall? What if you want more interest than a solid color but you also want to be able to hang up artwork on top?

Well that's what I made here!

I also have more ideas like gradient fades and birds on a wire and sunsets and lake scenes! Comment or message me if you think that sounds awesome.

It's national parks week! So here's one of my favo

It's national parks week!
So here's one of my favorite pieces inspired by one of my favorite national parks, @picturedrocksnps

I call it Summer Breeze and it's based on a picture I took of Miners Castle on the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It's a four-color jigsaw block print, meaning that I carved the design, cut it into pieces, inked those pieces individually and then assembled them to print. It's a more intensive process than a lot of my prints, but it's worth it for more color.

There are 13 of these prints left.
18x24"
$200
@cranfieldcolours @flexcut.tools

I AM NOT MY THOUGHTS Prints now available on my we

I AM NOT MY THOUGHTS
Prints now available on my website

Just because you think it, doesn’t make it true

I think that one of the most important things to remember in this weird existence as humans is that not every thought that comes into our brains means something.

Not every thought is true. Most of your thoughts probably aren’t even your own! They come from the ideas and opinions of the people around you and the media you consume and the books that you read.

One fine summer day, I was sitting on my friend’s back patio, watching her koi pond as she and my other buddy went to get drinks.

As I watched, I started to think about the nature of thought itself. These koi were each like a thought floating through my mind. Bouncing off one another, swimming side-by-side. Following their own agendas, yet defining each other with each movement.

And so I followed the koi with my eyes, one at a time, noting the effects of one fish’s path on the others in the pond. It was a pleasant and calming experience.

(I may have accidentally meditated.)

So I suppose what the koi reminded me was that, if my thoughts aren’t necessarily my own, then they certainly don’t define me.

And with a lack of ultimate defined meaning comes the opportunity to create your own.

Prints are in the mail and should arrive early next week. They’re 16×20” with no border or mat and will be shipped in sturdy cardboard shipping tubes.

Come paint a dahlia field with me! I visited @bir

Come paint a dahlia field with me!

I visited @birddogflowerfarm yesterday and painted "Fluffles," a delightful pink and white variety of dahlia.

You can find this incredible little flower farm and pick your own bouquet in Howell, off of Chilson rd.

Sandhills, outstanding in their field. This will

Sandhills, outstanding in their field.

This will be part of a series someday. It's brewing.

I also have a million other things to do before taking on another personal project 😅

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Dreamsca

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Dreamscapes opening on Friday night! It was a great evening and it's so cool to see my work in a professional context with great lighting!

Here's a pic of me and Dan, who helped me make this gorgeous frame for Strawberry Moon.

Special thanks to Teresa, Dan, Cheryl, Cheryl, Cheryl, Sophie, Erin, Rick and Marie. It meant SO much to me that y'all went out of your way on a Friday night to come celebrate with me. ❤️

It's tonight! Dreamscapes opens tonight at @mausha

It's tonight!
Dreamscapes opens tonight at @maushausgallery!

5-8pm

And the works will be up until August 28th

See you there!

Today is Owl Awareness Day. So if you weren't awar

Today is Owl Awareness Day.
So if you weren't aware, now you are.

The owls were already aware of you though.

And they're definitely judging you.

Munsell Sunflower Field 16x20" acrylic on canvas,

Munsell Sunflower Field
16x20" acrylic on canvas, plein air
One year ago today

Sunflowers have such dramatic poses. Like straight from a Gericault painting. So that's what brought me to this field on the side of Mason Rd on a smoky morning in early August of 2025.

Swipe for the scene that inspired this one. You can see some of the choices I made to bring the composition together. As an artist, I'm not bound to reality in any meaningful way. Which means I can move things around and remove entirely them when I need to.

Anyway, I hope you like it. This painting, along with a bunch of others I did around the same time, is hanging up now at my favorite brewery, @hearsaybrewing.

Five years ago, Grace and I visited Pictured Rocks

Five years ago, Grace and I visited Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. That trip inspired me to make this painting of Miners Falls.

24x36" acrylic on canvas

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